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Course Queries Syllabus Queries 2 years ago
Posted on 16 Aug 2022, this text provides information on Syllabus Queries related to Course Queries. Please note that while accuracy is prioritized, the data presented might not be entirely correct or up-to-date. This information is offered for general knowledge and informational purposes only, and should not be considered as a substitute for professional advice.
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Not all translations are created equal, and often the public domain ones freely available online are some of the worst.
Augustine fans out there – whose translation of Confessions is the best in English? I'm looking for readability (out-loud or otherwise) here, not necessarily technical accuracy.
Here are the English translations that I'm aware of (I doubt this is a complete list):
Here are four excerpts from different translations, all from the first few sentences of Book I, Chapter 3:
Pusey:
Do the heaven and earth then contain Thee, since Thou fillest them? or dost Thou fill them and yet overflow, since they do not contain Thee? And whither, when the heaven and the earth are filled, pourest Thou forth the remainder of Thyself? or hast Thou no need that aught contain Thee, who containest all m.tuteehub.com/tag/things">things, since what Thou fillest Thou fillest by containing it?
Burke:
Do the heaven and earth then contain You, since You fill them? or do You fill them and yet overflow, since they do not contain You? And whither, when the heaven and the earth are filled, pour You forth the remainder of Yourself? or have You no need that aught contain You, who contain all m.tuteehub.com/tag/things">things, since what You fill You fill by containing it?
Boulding:
So then, if you fill heaven and earth, does that m.tuteehub.com/tag/mean">mean that heaven and earth contain you? Or, since clearly they cannot hold you, is there something of you left over when you have filled them? Once heaven and earth are full, where would that remaining part of you overflow? Or perhaps you have no need to be contained by anything, but rather contain everything yourself, because whatever you fill you contain, even as you fill it?
O'Rourke:
Do heaven and earth contain you, then, since you fill them? or do you fill them, and is there something of you left over because they are not able to contain you? If so, where else do you pour the rest of your being, when heaven and earth are filled? Or is it that nothing can contain you, because you contain everything and fill everything?
My initial impression is that Boulding sounds the most contemporary and in many regards is "easier to read," but perhaps it is weak in other areas. Sheed seems to be a very close m.tuteehub.com/tag/second">second (and superior in other regards). The book reviews on Amazon rarely address the translation, so I'm asking here.
If I were, for some strange reason, compelled against my will to read Confessions aloud before a crowd, I would choose F. J. Sheed’s translation.
In my mind, Sheed not only sufficiently translates the originals into English, but also does the best job with the electrifying high poetry of Augustine's writing.
For example, compare Sheed’s translation of Book I, Chapter III with the examples in the body of your question:
But if you fill heaven and earth, do they contain you? Or do you fill them, and yet have much over since they cannot contain you? Is there some other place into which that overplus of You pours that heaven and earth cannot hold? Surely You have no need of any place to contain You since You contain all things, and fill them indeed precisely by containing them.
Notice that, unlike the other more technical translations, the last sentence in the above excerpt is molded into an imperative sentence rather than an interrogative. This appears to be a subtly significant attempt to convey both the theological, as well as the emotional dynamism that St. Augustine is canonically known for. This also breaks up the monotony of questions by giving some intelligible credit to a philosophical giant such as Augustine.
When reading Sheed’s translation of Confessions (as well as his other works) I often catch myself reading the passages with a sort of rhythm, almost like I’m reading one of C. S. Lewis’ works of poetry. It combines just the right amount of the post-Elizabethan, King James-ish English with a more modern Chesterton-like prose, both of which I am truly fond of.
Here I have loosely rearranged a passage of Sheed’s translation in order to illuminate the rhythmic structures of sentences that help me to stay zeroed in on what Augustine is actually saying:
And if You are already in me, Since otherwise I should not be, Why do I cry to You, To enter into me? Even if I were in Hell You would be there, For if I go down into Hell, Thou art there also. Thus, oh God, I should be nothing, Utterly nothing, Unless you were in me, Or rather unless I were in you, Of whom and by whom and in whom, Are all things. Book I, Chapt. II
And if You are already in me,
Since otherwise I should not be,
Why do I cry to You,
To enter into me?
Even if I were in Hell You would be there,
For if I go down into Hell, Thou art there also.
Thus, oh God, I should be nothing,
Utterly nothing,
Unless you were in me,
Or rather unless I were in you,
Of whom and by whom and in whom,
Are all things.
Book I, Chapt. II
Sheed’s translation is thoroughly saturated with a kind of seamlessness, that of which other translations I have read (or have attempted to read) seem to lack. As in all of his theological works, (which I very highly recommend every single one of them) Sheed does an incredible job of efficiently manipulating the English language into transporting eternally understandable truths to simple minds like mine.
Give Sheed a chance…you won’t regret it.
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